Senate Committee Approves Health-Care Reform Bill

The Senate's health committee approved legislation today that -- if passed by both houses of Congress -- would vastly expand health insurance coverage in America and tighten restrictions on the way the industry operates.

The 13-10 committee vote, along party lines, gives President Obama an important victory in what promises to be a lengthy and contentious drive to enact a comprehensive health-care overhaul this year.

The bill, named "Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans," would create a controversial new government-sponsored health program that would compete with the private sector. It requires that every American carry health insurance and provides generous discounts to people who cannot afford a plan. Millions more Americans would also be eligible for Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor.

Under the legislation, most businesses would be required to offer insurance to workers or pay a $750 annual fee per full-time employee. Companies with fewer than 25 employees would be exempt from the so-called employer mandate, which faces fierce opposition by the Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Sen. Mike Enzi, (R-Wyo.), the highest-ranking Republican on the committee, delivered a bitter speech decrying the "partisan bill" as one that increases the deficit, "kills jobs and cuts wages."

More than anything, the vote this morning by the panel, formally named the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, gives Democrats a bit of forward motion in a legislative effort that has sputtered in recent weeks.

The Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the financing of health reform, has fallen behind its schedule as Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) searches for bipartisan consensus on the politically difficult issue.

Three members of the panel scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to put pressure on the insurance industry to contribute up to $100 billion over the next decade toward the cost of expanded health coverage. House Democrats have announced a plan that would force the richest 2 million U.S. taxpayers to shoulder much of the cost of an expansion of the nation's health-care system, by imposing a surtax of as much as 5.4 percent on income above $350,000 a year.

Also today, the Democratic Party's Organizing for America released new television ads touting the urgent need for health reform. The 30-second spot, dubbed "It's Time," features average Americans who say they have been negatively affected by the current system.

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.) is filling in as chair of the health committee for the ailing Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) , a longtime proponent of health-care reform who has devoted decades to the cause of universal health coverage.

The absent senator, who is battling terminal brain cancer, issued an emotional statement to the committee from his sickbed, recalling that his two slain brothers announced their candidacies for the presidency in the Russell Caucus Room where today's vote took place.

"As you vote today, know that I am with you in heart and mind and soul, and I wish very much that I could be with you in person," Kennedy said. "The American people are on the march once more, and they will not stop until quality, affordable health care is the birthright of every American. And we are with them every step of the way."

Dodd told his colleagues that Kennedy, a close friend, is "is ecstatic about our efforts here."